I don't know about you, but I need messy grace more than ever.

These days, with baby on hip and eyes glued half-shut from night wakings, I'm desperate for grace . . . for reminders that I'm doing enough, being enough. That I'm already worthy, as is, and I can relax into gentle comfort. That the stains and scars I'm taught to hide are actually part of my messy grace.

How about you, fellow phoenix? I don't know what's weighing on you, or what you're celebrating. But I bet you could use a reminder, too, that your worth is not determined by what you accomplish or by any external standard.

What if we could scrawl ourselves a permission slip, insisting that we can love our messy lives, right now?

That we can let go of our "control" and allow messy grace to wash over us instead?

Our new issue of The Phoenix Soul digital magazine says we can--that it's possible to love our lives and our Selves in all their rumpled glory. And that messy grace is right here, where and when we need her most.

When someone sees through the veneer of my life into its messy core, one of two things happens: we step awkwardly away from each other, or we lean into each other’s lives, sharing our messes, and in so doing, learn to love each other and ourselves a little better.

— Hannah Marshall, Grit & Grace, TPS: Messy Grace

Phoenix, let's sink into messy grace together. Let's dare to believe we are worthy, we are loved, we are treasure and treasured–just as we are.